Chris Lipp - The Startup Pitch: A Proven Formula to Win Funding

The Startup Pitch

THE STARTUP PITCH

Copyright 2013 by Chris Lipp.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reprinted, in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission by the author, except for brief quotations by reviewers.

Published by PowerSpeech, Mountain View, Ca.

For more information, contact

Version 1.1

www.pitchpower.org

Cover art designed by Sonia Oster

To my parents Mandy and Bob,

for teaching me the two real skills of life:

love and independence.

Contents

Forward

As an entrepreneur you will be asked to do many things, but none as hair-raising as that moment you are asked to deliver a pitch. Thats when the rubber meets the road and you must share your idea with others who can help you succeed. Those few minutes are crucial.

Chris Lipp is an entrepreneur with a proven framework for pitching and a passion for helping fellow entrepreneurs tell their story. He has given all of us a gift by investing thousands of hours creating this primer for pitching which you are now holding in your hands (or reading on your kindle). He transparently shares his own failures and successes as an entrepreneur in the trenches trying to communicate to potential investors. But more than that, he has coached hundreds of fellow entrepreneurs, and interviewed and researched still more. In short, Chris Lipp has invested his time to understand pitching so all of us can benefit.

I urge you to buy The Startup Pitch , read it, and use it. This book (much like the method Chris will detail for you) meets a unique need in the marketplace. Hes recognized that while other authors provide laundry lists of what to include, none shares a memorable, codified approach to guide the pitch itself. His approach is for you to embrace and use as you further your start-up pitching to potential investors.

Chris approach is rapid fire, exactly what I find my students expect. Todays entrepreneurs are used to moving fast and adjusting on the go. In fact I have already sketched out his model for pitching numerous times with my own students to illustrate the key goals of a pitch. So I suggest you devour the book in short order, flagging items you want to revisit. Grasp the simplicity of Chris 4-Point Formula and how your idea can be served by communicating in this way. Then, return to the book at a more leisurely pace as you build or refine your pitch. My prediction for this book is that dog-eared copies will make the rounds of incubators, shared work spaces, and dorm rooms as aspiring entrepreneurs begin to see the value in what Chris has created.

As Ive read his drafts through the past year, Ive seen the model emerge with greater clarity, much like the old Polaroid photographs that slowly appeared before your eyes (yeah, Im dating myself now as a baby boomer.) Now Chris is ready to share it with all of you. The real gift is not the book, but what you do with it. The Startup Pitch written by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs directly reflects the task you face preparing a pitch.

JD Schramm, Ed.D.

Founder, Mastery in Communication Initiative

Stanfords Graduate School of Business